Surveillance and security monitoring systems often employ multiple video cameras disposed at different locations to monitor activity in those locations. Conventionally, the video feeds from these cameras are fed to a central monitoring station and displayed on one or more display screens. The multiple display screens allow the central monitoring station personnel to view multiple cameras at the same time, and ideally the number of display screens would equal the number of video feeds so that all the cameras can be viewed simultaneously. However, such a large number of display screens can be prohibitively expensive, both in cost and required space.
Alternatively, the multiple video feeds can be displayed on a single display screen, thus reducing cost. In such a single display screen configuration, the video feeds may be displayed sequentially, one after the other according to the particular scan sequence. Alternatively, multiple video feeds may be displayed simultaneously on the one display screen, in sub-divisions of the screen, as shown in FIG. 1
Referring to FIG. 1, a display screen 100 is shown that is sub-divided into four quadrants 102a-d. Each quadrant of the four quadrants 102a-d displays a video feed originating from a separate camera. In this way, a security guard can monitor four video cameras simultaneously. While this method of displaying multiple video feeds works well for a small number of cameras, as the number of cameras increases, the viewing area of each displayed video feed decreases. Consequently, in situations where a large number of video feeds are displayed simultaneously, the details within each displayed video feed can be lost due to the reduced size. When in scan sequence operation, user can conventionally watch video feeds one by one only. While the user is watching one feed he is completely unaware of the next feed.